Shawnee firefighters answer the call

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 9:21 AM

Wayne Witkowski and FrANK PELLEGRINO

Shawnee Volunteer Fire Company Chief Don Fuller and President and Assistant Captain Dave Timko have seen a lot of changes during their combined half-century of service that goes beyond increasing from one truck in the first year in 1945 to seven vehicles and two station.

"It's changed a lot, everything from the technology to what we wear inside a fire," said Timko, who's in his 24th year serving Smithfield and Middle Smithfield townships.

"Like the air pack that we wear. Before we relied on our gear, which essentially was good stuff, to keep us safe with the bell going off on the old air packs that says there are three to five minutes of air left, Now within our masks we purchase, there's a display that shows three-quarters (air supply), a half, all the way down to the single bars so you see it going down and how much air you possibly can have. Now in the mask there are more gauges and more safety equipment."

Even the fire gear may not be fully fireproof but it is more heat resistant and has cut down on steam burns, Timko said.

The larger North Station I, opened in 1993, is on Hollow Road with six garage bays for a tanker, engine, supply engine truck, two brush trucks and a utility vehicle — a four-wheel-drive quad unit that carries 100 gallons of water and a pump to get firefighters to area swhere normal emergency vehicles can't reach. A smaller substation next to Shawnee Playhouse houses a rescue truck.

Shawnee in the late 1970s had a huge airport crash truck that's been taken out of service.

Timko said Shawnee takes about 280-300 calls yearly, including 52 weekly drills, which is lighter than surrounding companies that take from 800-1,200 calls a year. "We're not real busy but that's why training is so critical to make sure the time when the call does come, we're prepared," he said.

Fuller, in his 28th year, commands a force of 20 active volunteers, a typical number

in recent years. Five of them are among the dozen who carry Shawnee's Lifetime Service distinction that goes with 20 years of service. Another five active members have 15 or more years of service.

"That's pretty good," said Timko, although there are no firefighters in training at this time. "We know it's tough to get volunteers, Time is valuable for people."

Especially at a time when the state has alerted municipalities that the volunteer fire companies are stretched and shorthanded. It was a workshop topic at the annual Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors convention in Hershey in March.

"It's pretty severe throughout the state," Timko said. "Everybody is working full-time jobs, working 40, 50 and even 60 hours a week, and some have different family requirements and can't commit time to it. It's tough asking people to leave birthday parties or to come out at Christmas or to come out at night and then go to work in the morning on an hour's sleep."

Timko said at least 10 members usually are available to quickly answer an emergency call on a weekday afternoon.

Even the training is demanding, with 188 hours required by the National Fire Protection Agency before a volunteer can go out on his first call. Their training is at the Monroe County Public Safety Center in Snydersville.

And with the turnover of population with people moving into the area from municipalities where fire houses are staffed with full-time employees paid on tax dollars, many overlook the word "volunteer" in the name of the fire company and that those companies rely on money coming in from other sources.

An annual subsidy from the two municipalities covered by the company takes care of 60 percent of the budget.

Shawnee has a golf fundraising tournament on Oct. 1 at the Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort. Tee and green sponsors are needed. Check with shawneefire.org for information and to sponsor or sign up.

The fire company also brought in more than $15,000 directing 1,500 cars whose drivers each donated $10 for the firefighters to direct parking and move cars back onto Hollow Road afterward at the July 5 Shawnee Mountain Ski Fourth of July Fireworks show.

A fundraising letter will go out before September that brings in about 10 percent of the revenue. Two or three fundraising spaghetti dinners are held at the firehouse throughout the year.

The firehouse hall rentals for birthday parties and other family events bring in another 10 percent revenue, said Timko. A Zumba dance exercise class held at the hall and outside during warmer weather has been so successful it has gone from one session per week to two.

During National Fire Prevention Week Oct. 5-11, Shawnee and other local fire companies send personnel to schools to talk about fire prevention and safety. The companies in the area also converge on Shawnee Mountain Ski parking lot for a popular Community Night in October where they display equipment to families and talk about safety.

All of those things keep the company afloat financially for their duties, which have broadened over the years from just fighting fires.

It includes extracting trapped occupants from cars, sometimes with the Jaws of Life, often with great care needed. "If we try to cut a roof off and the airbag is deployed, it can cause injury and even death," Timko said.

And there are the emergency responses for rescues in the Delaware River and local waterways or to remove a badly injured hiker deep in a wooded trail.

A peculiar example cited by Timko is putting out a fire in an empty house that may have narcotics or a meth lab inside.

"We can hear about that from the neighbors who tell us (during the response) that they think there was some illegal activity going on inside. We rely on that," Timko said. "We're not doing a lot there aside from outside exposure, and hazmat teams come in for those hazardous materials (inside) to be handled separately. We'll just knock down fires the best we can."

But the main thing, Timko said, is to make sure their volunteers face the least danger while rescuing others.